South London rapper Ms Banks is firmly in her freestyle bag this year and we’re all better off for it. Following January’s Daily Duppy, Big Banks has just dropped off one of her best yet.
Produced by North-West London duo 2FVDED, the beat centres on a sample from Lil’ Kim’s 2000 anthem “No Matter What They Say”, itself a sample of a song called “Esto es el Guaguanco” by Puerto Rican singer Cheo Feliciano. That bright and breezy melody makes for the perfect foil to Banks’ punchy rhymes about second-rate men and third-rate rappers.
With a format as straightforward as the freestyle, it must be tempting to overcomplicate things with flashy edits, concepts and locations, but as this freestyle proves, there’s power in simplicity. As she puts it, “I really just wanted to have fun with this and go back to basics”.
Labeled “Money Talks 1” on YouTube, it would appear there’s more where this came from. Here’s hoping...
